Written Answers Friday 5 August 2005

Scottish Executive

Justice

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what conventions it expects to develop in respect of consultation with the (a) First Minister, (b) Scottish Executive, (c) leaders of opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament and (d) Scottish Parliament with regard to the appointment of Supreme Court judges.

Cathy Jamieson: Scottish Ministers must work within the statutory provisions on appointment to the Supreme Court bench which were set out in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. When a vacancy falls due, the Lord Chancellor must convene a selection commission of legal and lay people to select one person to be recommended for the vacancy. The selection commission must consult with the First Minister as part of their consideration. The commission’s report goes to the Lord Chancellor who once more consults with the First Minister. The Lord Chancellor then notifies the name to the Prime Minister who is obliged under the legislation to recommend that person to Her Majesty The Queen.

  The selection panel, which must include representation from the Scottish Judicial Appointments Board, plays the key role in the process as part of the move towards more openness and independence in the selection process for judicial appointments.

Justice

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-17356 and S2W-16495 by Cathy Jamieson on 27 June and 23 May 2005, whether the reservation in respect of the framework decision relates only to the negotiation of the framework decision or whether its subject matter and implementation are also reserved.

Cathy Jamieson: The reservation relates to the negotiation of the framework decision as stated in the question S2W-16496 answered on 26 May 2005 The responsibility for implementing framework decisions rests with Scottish Ministers only for subject matters in areas of devolved competence as stated in the question S2W-17736 answered on 19 July 2005. As currently drafted, the subject matter of this framework decision is reserved to the UK Government as stated in the question S2W-16495 answered on 23 May 2005.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Olympic Games

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what methodology the Chief Executive of EventScotland used to justify his statement on 6 July 2005 that holding the 2012 Olympic Games in London would benefit Scotland by many millions of pounds.

Patricia Ferguson: The remark made by David Williams, the Chief Executive of EventScotland, about the benefits expected to flow through to Scotland as a result of the Olympic Games being held in London in 2012 was based on his personal experience of the benefits which flowed to the whole of Australia a result of the Sydney Games in 2000.

  David Williams was previously director general of the Queensland Government’s tourism department, which ran the secretariat for Queensland’s Olympic Taskforce 2000 as well as developing strategies for tourism, business, arts and culture designed to maximise the benefits of the Sydney Games 2000 for Queensland.

  The final report of the Olympic Taskforce recognised the success of the Sydney Games and estimated the total value of the benefits to tourism, business and sport to be in excess of $1 billion Australian dollars. The key outcomes achieved for Queensland included A$128 million of Games related business for small to medium size businesses and A$285 million secured by national or international companies with headquarters in Queensland. It was also estimated that over A$700 million worth of publicity was generated for Queensland as a visitor destination.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost per prisoner was in each prison in each of the last five years.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  I refer the member to my answer to question S2W-16418 on 18 May 2005, which also applies to the last five years. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of prisoners are drug users upon entry to prison and are considered to remain so at the point of release.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS does not collect this information routinely. However, a specific reception testing study during May 2003 indicated that around two-thirds of prisoners had drugs in their system upon entry to Scotland’s prisons. More detailed information of this study was given in reply to a previous question and I refer the member to the question S2W-15576 answered on 14 April 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

  Liberation testing in December 2004 suggested that about 30% were drug users on release, and the SPS random test of drug use in prison indicates that less than 20% test positive while in prison.